Sauerkraut was my gateway ferment, and it should probably be yours, too. Why? Because it practically makes itself. You know what’s in sauerkraut? Cabbage and salt. That’s it. All you have to do is shred the cabbage, add salt, give it all a good roughing up, and pack it into a crock or jar until it is submerged in its own briny juice. (This will happen surprisingly quickly.) Weigh the proto-kraut down, then wait a few days (or a few weeks) while the awesome probiotic organisms that were already living on the vegetable throw a crazy pickling party and transform your humble pile of cabbage into a delicious, healthful, tangy tangle of goodness. Boom, done. You just made sauerkraut.

But that’s not even the best part: You can make ‘kraut with almost any vegetable. (Tomatoes, however, may be too acidic.) You can apply the basic sauerkraut technique to radishes, celery, turnips, fresh herbs, hot peppers—you name it, you can ‘kraut it. I’ve tasted all kinds of vegetables fermented in this fashion, and they’ve all been uniquely sensational.

Just yesterday I got to put this theory into practice. A multinational corporation (that shall remain nameless) happened to have sent our food editor, Allie Lewis Clapp, a gratuitously large cooler filled with 15 bags (!) of their new (and sort of unappealing-looking) chopped salads, and making ‘kraut seemed like the obvious move. Minus the packets of dressings and shredded cheese, the contents were perfect fodder for fermentation: chopped and shredded cabbage, kale, carrots, and radishes. So we got to work.

A quick note: If you’re at all concerned about the safety of making ‘kraut at home, don’t be. You know how many cases of people getting sick from eating fermented vegetables the USDA has recorded to date? Exactly zero.